A popular way of displaying merchandise is a rotational, or carousel type free-standing display. The supplier has an opportunity to have its goods displayed separately from the merchandise of other suppliers, usually with signing to draw attention to its goods. The display is often set apart from the retailer's shelves where it is more readily noticed by shoppers. From the retailer's point of view separate rotational displays, because they are furnished by the supplier, reduce the cost of fixtures and often increase sales of the merchandise.
Many free-standing merchandise displays of the carousel type have a central support that rotates on a base and has rods from which the goods hang, the goods being packaged in blister cards, plastic bags or the like. Another form of rotating support commonly used in carousel displays comprises shelves for the packaged goods, which are often packaged so that part of the goods can be seen--e.g., window boxes, boxes with transparent covers, etc. Frequently, the merchandise is held in carousel displays in radial rows of several articles. As the stock is selected and removed by purchasers, the remaining articles in each radial row become less and less visible, because they stand in from the perimeter of the overall display. As the goods become less visible, the less likely are they to be observed by the customers. It is the most popular articles in the display that most quickly become less prominent to passersby, and the effectiveness of the display in driving sales is greatly diminished.
Economical manufacture and shipping, and easy set-up, are important goals for display systems, as are good lighting, high density and easily visible products.